This is indeed the goal of formal debates, which is why debaters are trained to argue both sides of an argument, and the winner is judged by who the audience found most convincing, rather than by drawing concession from one's opponent.

The goal of rhetoric is not to make your opponent admit defeat, which is why you don't see politicians try to actually engage with an opponent's argument.

Likewise, a lawyer arguing in court is not trying to convince the other lawyer.

This leads to great and interesting debates. An opponent well used is a tool to sharpen your own arguments and make your own point shine clearly in contrast to another positition. It's easier to show what a "white" horse is, if you have a "brown" horse to compare with.

When I read this thread the other day I was hoping you'd chime in. I don't know what you can talk about but I'm willing to bet you saw people manipulating discussions using sock puppets. I know using them to vote was a bannable offense but I don't know if I ever saw anything about manipulating consensus or building a straw man to be torn down by the main account.

At least during the time I was working there (2008-2011), it was actually pretty rare. The most common use of sockpuppets was simply to be able to do lots of fake AMAs. And every admin had at least one sockpuppet they would use to troll people or otherwise say things they couldn't say under their official account.

For some reason it seems even scummier than rigging votes so maybe that discouraged it. But it's no surprise that admins would have a "work" account and an "anonymous" account. You'd never be able to express a personal controversial opinion without it being jumped all over and attributed to the company.

Somewhat related: Did you have to comb through all of your past comments before the interview and/or announcement? It must have been weird interviewing at a place where you'd had a personal account prior to being interviewed. I would have been filled with anxiety wondering what weird stuff (oh golly, and porn...) I'd looked at while logged in.

Nope; it was different times in 2008. There are things you can get away with when a company is small enough to fit into a Yaris.

Intelligence Squared does this. Interesting podcasts. US version: http://www.npr.org/series/6263392/intelligence-squared-u-s UK version: http://www.intelligencesquared.com/podcast/